Three Tacoma police officers have been acquitted in the killing of Manuel Ellis, an unarmed black man whose death got renewed attention after the killing of George Floyd.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
A jury acquitted three police officers of all charges today in the death of Manuel Ellis, an unarmed Black man who was killed in Tacoma, Wash., in 2020. Though he died months before George Floyd, Ellis’ case gained new attention in the wake of Floyd’s murder. The trial was the first test of a state law making it easier to charge officers for using deadly force. Jared Brown of KNKX reports.
JARED BROWN, BYLINE: Officers Matthew Collins and Christopher “Shane” Burbank were found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter. Officer Timothy Rankine was acquitted of manslaughter. Ellis had been walking home from a convenience store late at night in March of 2020, when Officers Collins and Burbank called him over to their patrol car.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PATTY EAKES: There seemed to be some sort of conversation, perhaps, a brief interaction.
BROWN: Special prosecutor Patty Eakes with the state attorney general’s office argued in court that Burbank then knocked Ellis to the ground without cause. Video recorded by passing motorist show he and Collins then punched Ellis, put him in a neck hold and tasered him. Witnesses say he didn’t fight back. Officer Timothy Rankine later kneeled on Ellis’ back while his hands and feet were bound.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
EAKES: He’s not threatening the officers. He’s not incoherent. The words he uses are all words that anyone can understand. Please, I can’t breathe. I still can’t breathe. Sir, please, I can’t breathe.
BROWN: Attorneys for the officers said that Ellis attacked them and resisted arrest with extreme strength, a symptom, they said, of what some call excited delirium. That’s a medical syndrome that some police trainers say can cause a person to be difficult to…
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